Near Intersection of I-35 & I-90 Southern Mn. | When you mention "digger" this reminds me of an incident out of the past. Around here we refer to a Field Cultivator as a "digger" also. When we mention "cultivator" it usually means a "Row Crop Cultivator" that is (was) used for weed control.
Back in 1984, I was on a trip to England with a friend. He was and is into older farm machinery. We visited a farm where the farmer had a collection of older farm machinery that was used over there.
One of the items of particular interest was the concept of "Tackle Farming". When I hear the work "tackle" I usually think of fishing rather than Block & Tackle.
Well anyway, the Tackle Farming concept consisted of two steam engines with large winches mounted sideways on their bellies. The Farm Implement was literally winched across the field from one steam engine on one end of the field and winched back by the other.
This fella had a 5 bottom two-way plow that was used this way. The plow had 5 right-hand moldboards and 5 left-hand moldboards. The frame was made so that when the plow was winched in one direction, it tipped over center and the right moldboards were in the ground. When it was winched back, the plow tipped the other way and the other moldboards were in the ground. There was a seat in the center and some poor devil had to ride and attempt to steer the thing. A whistle system was used to communicate between the two steam engine operators. When the plow was being pulled one direction the other steam engine advanced to be ready to pull the plow back when it was his turn.
The host farmer mentioned that the tackle system was also used with a cultivator. I'm thinking how could this possibly work since it would be very difficult to steer a row crop cultivator being pulled by a winch. When we went and looked at the cultivator it was really a "digger" in my mind. This implement had three wheels and the front wheel was a caster type. When the digger needed to go back the other direction, it flipped around on the caster wheel. I would think the operator would go for quite a ride.
All in all the concept didn't work out the best. It required at least three men to operate and was quite dangerous. The setup time was extensive to lay out the cables etc. Also since it is often quite foggy in that area, there were times when the steam operators couldn't even see the implement.
They demonstrated the system on occasions and had a local celebration where the Tackle concept was the main theme.
Edited by tedbear 3/27/2008 07:42
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